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Monthly Archives: October 2012

Back in the mists of time when I first started using computers, you could basically do whatever you wanted with them, in the sense that you could run any program you wanted, whether you wrote it yourself or bought it or acquired it from some dodgy geyser down the pub or whatever. It wasn’t necessarily easy to get it to do what you wanted, but at least the computer companies didn’t go out of their way to make it particulary difficult either. Now, with systems like the iPad and iPhone gaining popularity and Windows 8 on the horizon, that’s no longer true, and I find it worrying.

For those of you that don’t know, you can’t install just any software you want on an iPhone or iPad like you can on a PC – you can only install things from the official app store. Unless you jailbreak the thing or pay to become a developer, that is. The same situation exists with Windows Phone 7 (though not, thankfully, with Android and Blackberry – they both allow you to install apps from anywhere you want, more like a traditional PC).

You could argue, though, that the iPhone is still an improvement over previous mobile phones in this regard. After all, on earlier phones you couldn’t generally install extra software at all, and at least on the iPhone you can do this, even if you are restricted in where it comes from. But locking users into one source for their software appears to be a trend that’s migrating away from phones and towards more traditional computers. The upcoming Windows 8 contains two examples of this:

1. “Metro” apps, which are a new kind of application more similar to the ones you get on Windows Phones, will only be installable from the official Microsoft store. While you’ll still be able to install traditional Windows programs from anywhere like before, the new style apps won’t allow this.

2. The new ARM version of Windows 8 is mandating locked-down boot code, preventing users from replacing the operating system with something else. Installing Linux, for example, which is generally fairly easy on current PCs, would be made much more difficult or impossible on a Windows 8 ARM system. (There were fears that this would be the case for Windows 8 on all platforms, including standard PC systems, though this thankfully seems to have fallen by the wayside for now). By the way, there is no technical reason for this difference whatsoever – it’s like a car manufacturer deciding that if you buy a blue car from them you’ll be allowed to service it yourself and get hold of spare parts and so on, but if you buy a red one, the bonnet will be welded shut to stop you doing anything to it.

So why do I think this is a bad thing? Well, several reasons, but mainly this: I got into programming and doing other more advanced (and fun!) things with computers by tinkering around with my own computer (first a Spectrum, then a PC) at home. There was nothing to stop me writing my own programs, or modifying ones other people had written to see what would happen. It’s now my career and I’m pretty convinced that without those early experiences, I wouldn’t be doing it now. At the very least I certainly wouldn’t be as good at it or as enthusiastic about it. I worry that if the trend towards locked-down systems continues, the next generation of kids won’t get this same chance. They will miss out on experimenting and having fun with technology the way I did, and everyone will miss out on the things they might have created as a result.

The argument about whether this is a good thing or not rages on in various forums online. I already know a lot of what people will say in defence of the closed systems, so I’ll pre-empt it by giving my responses first.

“Kids will still be able to learn programming at school, or on specialist teaching devices”

Yes, no-one’s suggesting that learning programming is going to become impossible, but there’s no denying that it could get difficult enough to put a lot of people off. If the trend towards closed systems continues to the point where you can’t write programs on a standard PC anymore without either paying a “developer fee” or jumping through hoops to jailbreak it, there are going to be significant extra barriers in the way. And some people who might have persisted if it was as easy as just downloading one of the many free programming environments available online (as it is today) are going to give up if they find they have to make costly purchases or risky modifications to their computers before they even get to write a line of code.

And yes, school computing departments are likely to have programmer-friendly computers of some description. But I know I would never have got into programming in such a big way if I was restricted to doing it in school classes, and I’m sure the same applies to a lot of people. I did most of my learning and experimentation on my own at home.

“This isn’t like the old 8-bit days. Computers are too complicated for anyone to be able to understand now anyway, so it doesn’t matter if you’re prevented from programming them yourself”

They’re still perfectly understandable to many of us, thank you very much. The concepts are still very much the same. It’s true that computers are a lot more complex than they were in the days of the Spectrum and C64, probably complex enough that no one person can be an expert on every area of them now… but at the same time, software has improved a lot and got much better at hiding that complexity. So most times you don’t need to think about the details of the hardware while you’re coding an app… though in some cases it is useful to know those details, and in those cases it’s nice to be able to find them without slamming into an artificial brick wall that really doesn’t need to be there.

“Haven’t you got anything better to complain about? Surely this is trivial compared to global warming/starvation in Africa/the economic crisis”

Yes, it is, but I still think it’s important enough to be worth talking about, and I’m a lot more qualified to talk about this than about any of those other issues.

“This is nothing to do with you. Companies have a right to sell locked down computers and people have a right to buy them. If you don’t like them, just don’t buy them!”

I certainly don’t intend to buy them, in fact one of the main reasons I chose an HTC phone is that their policy on this is much better than most phone manufacturers (they allow you to unlock the phone’s bootloader and replace the entire operating system with a new one of your choice if you want to). And yes, people have a right to choose whatever hardware they want for themselves. But I also have a right to say why I don’t like this trend and try to warn other people of the possible downsides before we reach the point of no return. This is especially important because the downsides may not become obvious to most people until it’s too late to do much about them.

“Only a tiny minority of geeks want to write their own apps or install a different operating system. They will be knowledgeable enough to choose hardware that doesn’t restrict them”

Until we reach the point where it’s virtually impossible to find hardware that doesn’t restrict them, that is.

In any case, I think that argument is flawed. Not everyone knows when they buy a computer that they will at some point in the future want to replace the OS. I’m typing this right now on my netbook, and when I bought it I fully intended to just use it with the operating system it came with (Windows 7). It wasn’t until after I’d had it a while and found it was quite slow that I decided to give Linux a try on it. Thankfully today it’s quite easy to install Linux on any computer, even one that wasn’t designed for it, so it worked even though I hadn’t specifically looked for a Linux-compatible machine when purchasing it. Tomorrow I might not be so lucky if current trends continue.

I’ve also installed Linux for my dad and brother at various points when they were having problems with their Windows PCs and didn’t have the recovery disk anymore. They certainly wouldn’t have specifically looked for Linux compatibility when they bought their computers, but they were very grateful for it when it saved them from having to buy a new copy of Windows or a whole new computer just to get back up and running. (Though one can see why Microsoft and the hardware manufacturers might be less keen on users having this option).

I’m not convinced that it is only a “tiny minority” that want more flexibility with their computers, anyway. I think if you looked at the percentage of people who’d used their PCs for something that might not be approved of (or even envisaged at all) by Microsoft or Apple – whether that’s using a Bittorrent client, installing a free alternative to some of the built in software of Windows/OSX, or messing around with a programming language or game creator or something similar – it would be a lot more than a tiny minority. Almost everyone I know has probably used their PC for at least one thing that is likely to become difficult or impossible in future if Windows transitions to a locked down, iPhone-like model.

It’s hard to find numbers for the percentage of iPhones that have been jailbroken, but most estimates seem to put it around 10-15% in the West and much higher (33-50%) in China. That’s hardly a tiny number of people, and it doesn’t even include the percentage who might like to jailbreak if they knew it was possible and knew what it could do, or the people who decided not to buy an iPhone at all because of the restrictions but might have if they were a bit more open.

Even if it was only a “tiny minority” of geeks that want to do this stuff, I’m still not convinced that’s a good argument for preventing them from doing it. They may be tiny in number, but they’re likely to be playing a disproportionately large part in creating the next generation of innovative software. If they’re held back from doing so, it will be bad for the majority as well in the longer term.

“Phones and tablets aren’t computers, they’re appliances, so it’s fine that you can’t modify the software on them. Would you expect to be able to modify the software in your microwave?”

This seems a completely arbitrary distinction to me. Of course a microwave is an appliance, it may technically have a computer inside to control the electrics, but you wouldn’t be able to run a word processor or browse the web on it, so it’s no big loss that you can’t install your own software on it. I’d even say the original (pre-Touch) iPod was more of an appliance because its hardware made it not particularly useful for anything other than playing music. But tablets and phones are pretty obviously just small computers. They can do a lot of the same things a full size PC can do, access the same websites, even run some of the same apps. If you add a Bluetooth keyboard to your iPad, as many people do, it’s not that much different from a small netbook – so why is one a “computer” and one an “appliance”? It’s entirely an artificial distinction intended to muddy the waters and get people to accept that it’s OK for tablet computers to be locked down and restricted because they’re somehow “different” from traditional computers with a keyboard.

“This is a good thing for most people. It means better security and higher quality software”

If you can’t install software, you can’t install buggy software or malware, right? So it must be a good thing!

I don’t really believe this argument. If (for example) Apple wanted to, they could include a checkbox in iOS like the Android one that allows you to install apps from anywhere you like, they could also include an HTC-style bootloader unlocker tool on their website, and these things would have absolutely zero impact on security or usability for most people. How could they? Most people would never use them anyway (at least that’s what we keep being told). Sure, if people really wanted to, they could then go and install malware from dodgy websites. If people really want to, there’s nothing to stop them driving the wrong way up a motorway or walking down a dark alley in a bad area at night laden with expensive jewellery either, but I don’t hear many people clamouring for rules to stop people from driving their own cars, or going out after dark without a police escort. So why this desire to stop people installing software on their own computers?

So if security and usability isn’t the real reason for doing this, what is? I can think of at least two:

1. Money. Apple takes a 30% cut of anything you buy from the App Store, and anything (such as music, ebooks) that you buy from within apps as well. Allowing competitors to operate app stores, or allowing you to install apps from outwith the store would obviously interfere with them getting this cut. I keep hoping this will be ruled illegal under EU competition law or something – I don’t think a car manufacturer would get away with demanding a 30% cut of any accessories you buy, or a stereo manufacturer demanding 30% from all the CDs you buy, so I’m not sure why it’s considered acceptable in the computing world.

2. Control. If they can control what you can and can’t install on your computer, they can prevent you installing things they don’t approve of. For example, programs that copy DVDs and BluRays can be outlawed, as well as software that competes with one of the supplier’s own products. Bittorrent clients could be forbidden altogether, and web browsers could be made to automatically block access to sites that Apple (or the authorities) disapprove of.

“It doesn’t matter, people will just jailbreak them anyway”

Typically, jailbreaking relies on finding holes in the security that aren’t supposed to be there. Often these are fixed in future software or hardware updates, meaning that new jailbreaking methods have to be found. Often they are found quickly, but there are no guarantees – some devices haven’t been jailbroken even after months or years. Security is getting ever more sophisticated as well.

Relying on jailbreaks being available is like agreeing to live in a prison cell because you’ve found a secret tunnel in the floor that allows you to go out whenever you like. Maybe that will work for a while, but what are you going to do if the guards discover the tunnel and block it up? Maybe you’ll find another one… then another… what if one day there isn’t another one? If you value being able to go outside, the only safe option is to not agree to live in the cell in the first place.

There is also the fact that jailbreaking will likely void your warranty and may permanently damage your device if it goes wrong, so a lot of people will be hesitant to do this to their expensive phone or tablet.

“This will never happen, you’re just scaremongering and you’ve got no evidence”

Right now, I don’t know what’s going to happen. No-one does. I would love nothing more than to be proved wrong about all of this, to still be living in a world where people can do whatever they want with their computers (and indeed phones and whatever other devices are around by then) in ten or twenty years time. But currently there is a definite shift going on away from general purpose programmable systems, and that’s enough to make me very concerned. I’d rather say something now and help raise awareness even if it does seem like scaremongering than sit back and watch in silence as Apple and Microsoft attempt to flush the technology landscape that got me to where I am today down the toilet.

“Apple and Microsoft would never use their app store rules for censorship or to block competitors, only to block buggy or dangerous software”

Right now it is likely that they are treading carefully, because they won’t want to scare people away to the many open alternatives that still exist at this point. But if closed platforms become more widespread in the future, there will be nothing to stop them from being a lot more restrictive. Even so, there have already been some bad policies and decisions from both Apple and Microsoft. Many of the rules have got nothing whatsoever to do with the security or quality of software and are purely about censoring content or preventing competition. This article points out that the majority of recent popular PC games would be forbidden from the Microsoft Store due to their content. Both companies ban or severely restrict apps that compete with their own – so in future there may be no more installing Firefox or Chrome, you could be stuck with Internet Explorer whether you like it or not. Apple have already used their app store restrictions for censorship of political cartoons. They also used to have a policy against any app that allowed any sort of scripting – this prohibits (among other things) emulators for old computers and consoles, and software designed to teach kids programming.

Yes, some of these decisions were eventually reversed, others were not. But in any case, can you count on every bad decision that affects you being reversed in the future? No. That’s why the only safe option is not to give them this power in the first place.

"I think who [gcat] is, really, is a very caring and non-judgemental person... and a bit of a nerd. And for me, that word has no negative connotations whatsoever. He's not one of those trendy new nerds who are basically normal people who like superhero movies. He's a proper, old-school nerd who gets absolutely obsessed with the most obscure subjects, regardless of whether anyone else is into them or not".